Pressure Cooker Shrimp Paella

This pressure cooker shrimp paella made in my Instant Pot Pressure Cooker will knock your socks off. And if you’re not wearing socks, It’ll make your toes curl. Not only does it have tons of flavor, it comes together so quickly with only a five minute high pressure cook time in the Instant Pot.

I’m bizack with another Instant Pot recipe…and I’m super excited to share this one because it’s such a quick and easy meal.

Although I love to cook, most weeknights I’m exhausted and I’d rather not stand in front of the stove. I’d rather not dirty up pots and pans. I’d rather order out but then my bank account says “no ma’am.”

It’s days like that that recipes in my Instant Pot are so important. If you haven’t gotten an Instant Pot yet, you’re so missing out. It is one of my all time favorite kitchen appliances, outside of my oven.

I go on and on about it in my post of Instant Pot Jamaican Cornmeal Porridge so I won’t do that again here. But for those that don’t know, it’s an electronic pressure cooker that pretty much cuts cooking time in half.

It has a sauté function that makes it great for browning meats and softening onions that are part of meals.

Alrighty, so about this Instant Pot pressure cooker shrimp paella. Well I always keep a bag of raw frozen shrimp in our freezer at home. I love frozen shrimp because the defrost time is so quick and the cook time of shrimp is so fast.

The great thing about this recipe is that you don’t even have to defrost the shrimp. It’s a literally a throw it in the pot kind of recipe. And if you prep your ingredients ahead of time by chopping the onions, peppers, and garlic…well my friend, you may break the record for the quickest dinner on the table.

Your family will love this Pressure Cooker Shrimp Paella

I remember the first time I made this for my family, my daughter literally was shocked and thought I ordered out and didn’t tell her. She couldn’t believe how quickly dinner was done. I just told her I was Super Mom. She was indeed impressed.

People don’t generally think of cooking shrimp in the pressure cooker. That makes sense because shrimp cooks quickly and if it’s not done right it can lead to a rubbery mess.

The key to avoiding this of course is a short cooking time and using jumbo frozen shrimp with shell on. This will ensure your shrimp is perfectly cooked.

The only slight annoyance with this recipe is the taking the shell off after cooking and before serving. Honestly, it’s up to you how you handle that part. On days I’m really tired, hubby and daughter are on their own when it comes to taking off the shells. On other days, I remove it for them so I don’t hear their whining.

I’ve include step by step photos of how to cook this meal in the Instant Pot. I remember when I first got my Instant Pot I was lost on how to operate it. After pressing buttons and reading the manual 4 times, I figured it out. Well, as always, Enjoy 🙂

Add rice and stir. Cook for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add chicken broth and white wine. Deglaze your pot by stirring to ensure that there is no food stuck to the bottom of the pot.

Add shrimp on top. Turn off Instant Pot and cover. Make sure valve is set to sealing.

Set Instant Pot to Manual Mode and set a 5 minute timer. When done, quick release.

Remove shrimp from pot and peel if desired. Serve with Cilantro.

Recipe Notes

Make sure there are no dry bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. This could result in that annoying "burn" signal some pressure cookers give off. Once you add your broth (but before you place frozen shrimp on top), stir with a wooden spoon to ensure there is no food stuck to the bottom.

This recipe was prepared in a 6qt Instant Pot. Please adjust accordingly for 3qt and 8qt models.

Nutrition Facts

Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Shrimp Paella

Amount Per Serving

Calories 318

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Shop this Recipe

Notes on Pressure Cooker Shrimp Paella

Use rawjumbo frozen shrimp with the shell on. This will ensure that your shrimp is not overcooked and your rice cooks perfectly. If you don’t have jumbo shrimp or it’s not frozen, then you will need to cook the shrimp seperatley.

Make sure to deglaze your pot after the rice is added. Any food stuck to the bottom of an Instant Pot may cause the “burn signal to appear.”

This recipe can be modified with many different vegetable or meat additions. There are some great modifications on the comments below.

Rinsed rice…I find this is a must in every rice recipe I make.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

Servings Per Container 4

Amount Per Serving

Calories 318Calories from Fat 118.8

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 13.2g20%

Saturated Fat g0%

Trans Fat g

Cholesterol 253.3 mgmg84%

Sodium 790 mgmg33%

Total Carbohydrate 478.3 mgg159%

Dietary Fiber 2.1 gg8%

Sugars .5 gg

Protein 26.4 gg53%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Step by Step Photos of Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Shrimp Paella

Press Sauté button on Instant Pot. It will automatically say 30 minutes. No need to adjust the time.

When Instant Pot says Hot, you are ready to add your ingredients. Add butter to melt.

Add onions and stir. Cook until softened, about 3 minutes.

Add garlic. Stir and cook for about 1 minute.

Add spices and stir, cooking for about 1 minute.

Add red peppers and rice and stir, Leaving to cook for about 1 minute.

Add wine and chicken broth. Make sure the rice is all covered.

Add frozen shrimp to the top, shells and tails on. Do not stir!

Turn the Instant Pot Off.

Cover the Instant Pot, making sure the dial is turned to “Sealing.”

Select the Manual Button and Adust the time to 5 by pressing the minus (-) button. This is how you start the Instant Pot and pressure will begin to build. The screen will then say “On” while pressure is building before the timer starts.

Once the timer is done, your Instant Pot will beep and your screen will look like this. This is when your natural release timer starts if you want to use it. We won’t be using natural release for this recipe.

Move the dial to the left or the right to “Venting” to let the pressure and steam escape. This is known as a “quick release.”

DO NOT OPEN THE INSTANT POT WHEN THAT LITTLE METAL CIRCLE IS UP. Too much pressure is in the pot. Once the little metal circle is completely down is when you can take off the cover.

When the little metal circle is all the way down, your Instant Pot is ready to open.

Hi Tiffany, I haven’t done it with peeled shrimp but I’d keep the cook time the same to make sure your rice gets fully cooked. As long as its jumbo raw shrimp is should be fine, the shells just add more flavor.

This was my first instant pot meal and it was delicious! I modded the recipe by adding some Spanish chorizo and substituted 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika plus 1/2 tsp of paprika (instead of a full tsp of paprika). Will try it with bomba or Arborio rice next time!

I’m not going to say I followed the recipe to a “T” because I didn’t. I did use the seasonings except for red pepper flakes. Didn’t want to hear my husband complain about it being too spicy.
Well, I didn’t have Jasmine rice and am too ashamed of what I did use. LOL. I think I had jumbo shrimp but they were defrosted. I had some flat white wine which I used. Flat for drinking purposes that is. 😉
Oh! I sauteed mushrooms with the onions and I added broccoli after I added the wine and beef, not chicken, broth. It might not be shrimp paella anymore but it was GREAT!
I really think I will make this again.

Hi Corinne, I actually rarely use fully cooked shrimp in recipes so I’ve never tried it this way. If you are going to use them, I would defrost them and add them at the end of the cooking time in the recipe, after you have released all the pressure and fully cooked your rice.

So I went to the store today and finally purchased the instapot. At first I thought it was going to be another gadget that just sits in my kitchen. This is the first recepie that I tried & it’s LEGIT! It was absolutely delicious!! The only thing that I would suggest is; if you don’t like spicy food leave out the red pepper flakes out. I added green peas to it and it was AMAZING! I am originally from Cuba & live in a landlocked state w/ absolutely no Cuban Coulture what so ever but this recepie brought me home!
I will be making this again, VERY Soon!

Tried today and surprised my hubby AND myself. I did do a couple substitutes:2 TPS olive oil instead of butter, and since I didn’t have enough of shrimps, I made up the 1 pound using mahi mahi. Deliciouso!

This was excellent. I didn’t have jasmine rice so I used risotto, added a small amount of chorizo and an extra cup of checked broth. I used a pack of seafood meat mix for paellas. I just added a squeeze of lemon juice over when I served. Cooked it in the pressure cooker on high for 8 mins because of the risotto. Delish !!!

Made this and it was delicious! I did add a 1/2 jalapeno and some adobo peppers to spice it up! No saffron here, this gal doesn’t have that kind of $ lol it was a bit watery but I’m making it again tonight if thay says anything! I did add more rice this time. Thanks for this great recipe!